Saturday, April 05, 2014

Why I Cannot Use a Cellphone

Why I Cannot Use a Cellphone

    Here is my response to the pending legislation by telecom companies to discontinue landlines. This is being proposed despite the fact that wireless radiation has been classified as a class 2B possible carcinogen by the World Health Organization and a probable carcinogen by the EPA.

    I would not be able to function without a landline. Because of the previous cumulative effects of radiation (cell phones and other EMR) on my body from using a cell phone and living 150’ from a disguised cell tower, I can no longer tolerate any sort of prolonged wireless radiation, Wifi or smart meter radiation. I have been forced to live in the outback where there is no cell tower.

    I am a PR professional who used a cell phone exclusively for 8 years until it made me dizzy and nauseous whenever I held it to my head. My ear on the side of my head with which I used this cell phone is now permanently numb. I count myself as lucky to have given up this cell phone before I developed a brain tumor. Please note that more and more people are now winning legal battles due to the brain tumor damage they have received from cell phone wireless radiation.

    Wireless cell radiation (EMR/RF) is now categorized by the insurance industry as a high risk: A major Swiss insurance industry report featuring emerging risk topics acknowledges recent reports of courts ruling in favor of claimants who have experienced health damage from mobile phones.

    People like me are the canaries in the mine shaft. Wireless microwave radiation poisoning has been undeniably shown in 4,000+ peer-reviewed academic studies to damage DNA, destroy the blood/brain barrier, and interfere with the production of melatonin by the pineal gland, along with a host of other effects.  Living beings can only handle the effects of radiation so long before their immune system gives out. (See: www.EMRActionDay.org/science  for a partial selection of scientific studies.)

    Because corporate-owned PR firms and media are blocking the flow of this information, I have spent a great deal of time sharing with others the numerous academic studies that prove wireless radiation is toxic. Because of my advocacy work, I have been harassed and threatened by telecom industry shills. However, my ethics and Ivy League education demand that I continue to insist that the truth about cumulative wireless radiation be acknowledged. If we give in any further to this monopoly of money, we will be directly harming the public for all time. You know the tobacco and asbestos stories.

    Granted, the companies that make wireless technology are now among the most powerful in the world, making trillions of dollars every year and paying little to no Federal income tax. They use vast PR networks, media/political control, and advertising to hide the proven effects of wireless radiation poisoning from us.

    The kicker is that telephone landlines use less than one third as much energy to operate as cell phones do. With 6 billion cell phones, imagine the energy we could save on this planet if we decide to use safe fiber optic hard wiring instead of radiation to communicate with one another.

    I am convinced that the unending stream of wireless microwave radiation emitting from millions of cell towers across the planet is contributing significantly to global warming. Now industrial-level WiFi is being installed in the ceilings of classrooms and businesses across America in order to sell massive quantities of wireless technology. However, hard wiring computer technology with fiber optics would be better quality, cheaper to operate, and without the effects of microwave poisoning day in and day out on us and our children.

    Alternatives to dangerous wireless technology are disappearing fast. These days it is almost impossible to buy landline phones, cable TV boxes, computer mice and routers, utility meters, etc. etc, that don’t emit wireless radiation. Although there is a large lobby for the needs of the disabled here in America, phone booths are rarely available to the many people like me who have been injured by wireless radiation and cannot use cell phones.

    After arriving home recently from vacation, I found out that my mother was on her deathbed. I had tried to check up on her health condition while on vacation, but every phone booth between Southern California and Utah was disconnected or broken. Although I immediately took the red eye to New York to see her, she passed on before I got there. In order to fly to New York, I had to endure a radiation-emitting full body scanner and WiFi emitting from the confines of every airplane. After getting back from my Mom’s funeral, I developed a painful burning condition in my spine for months--another symptom of wireless poisoning.


The phone booths are now all gone. It is inconceivable that the increasing number of people who are being injured by cumulative wireless poisoning could function without landlines. Do not take away the landlines so trillion dollar companies can make a few more bucks. And although cell phones are touted as great for emergencies, landlines are the only device that will still work when the power goes out.

EMF Refuges


Temporary EMF Refuge in Rural Massachusetts--sensitive to those with MCS May-June-(July)


and Planning Stages for Permanent Location(s)

Required: 2 semi-permanent room mates (May-June-July) with possibility of extension if refuge development successful.

Possibility: Short-term vacation/detox rental in additional room

Goal: To acquire support, investors, and members to form an intentional community and EMF refuge.

Mostly off-grid house:

2 room mates sought for 3-month rental at beautiful furnished rural 100-year-old renovated home(2800sf, on nine acres, with barn, stable, 2 car garage- up on a quiet, peaceful hilltop- beautiful views- towards farmland and mountains- can garden- with nearby bike trails, organic farms, fields & forest - even golf and swimming. Home will be shared with 1 child and 2 women. Must be willing to make quick application and initial payment for rental to move forward. Minimum rental fee based on current location: $725/month, $625 security deposit. Basic grocery bill divided by roommates.

Room mates should expect to model good, positive behavior especially with respect to child living in home, and be willing to cooperate for smooth running of the household. We intend to research and expand this community to offer detox services with other refuge communities. Congenial group a must. Background & references required (more information to be posted in a day or so). Further information will be posted & updated on this website: http://www.meetup.com...

MCS: Multiple Chemical Sensitivities (common in people with EHS)
EHS: Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity
Kirsten / Sandy
 
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EMF refuge in Virginia

 
I am planning a small EMF refuge in Virginia to be established this fall.  There will be some wooded areas and some open areas for growing/raising food.  There will be one house on the grid with plans for other small structures off the grid.  I would imagine some people will stay for longer and others for shorter periods.  We will all need to work together with our labor or finances.  If we do well together we may be able to offer help to some who may not be able to pay or work.  If you would like to participate please email me at my44fun@yahoo.com .   Thank you!
 
 

Friday, April 04, 2014

The Swiss flats where smoking, painting and mobile phones are banned

The Swiss flats where smoking, painting and mobile phones are banned

A block of flats has been built in Zurich for people who claim to suffer from hypersensitivity to chemicals and electromagnetic radiation

The newly opened apartment building of Swiss Healthy Life and Living Foundation for Multiple Chemical Sensitivity
The newly opened apartment building of Swiss Healthy Life and Living Foundation for Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS) patients in a remote part of Leimbach, on the outskirts of Zurich, Switzerland Photo: AFP/GETTY
No smoking, no perfume and no mobile phone use – the list of rules at one newly built block of flats in Zurich is so long it is a wonder anyone chooses to live there.
But for those who do, there is good reason.
The 15 apartments have been designed specially for people who claim to have a condition known as “multiple chemical sensitivity”.
A sign shows prohibited items in Leimbach (AFP/GETTY)
Sufferers fall ill when exposed to the slightest waft of perfume or whiff of cleaning products.
Most of the residents in the building in Switzerland's Leimbach say they also become weak and sick when near mobile phones or other wireless devices that emit radio waves or electromagnetic radiation.
While few doctors recognise the affliction, The Healthy Life and Living Foundation, which campaigns for greater recognition for MCS sufferers, convinced the Zurich authorities to provide land for the £4.1 million building.
Christian Schifferle, 59, the head of the foundation, said he had suffered from MCS since being exposed to toxic fumes in his parents’ furniture factory as a young child. He has spent most of his adult life camped in a trailer in the pure air of the Swiss Alps. “All my life it has been like I was only half alive,” he said.
Mr Schifferle said he only realised he was not alone at the age of 35, when he discovered an American book on MCS. “It makes me weak, anxious, I can’t breathe, my lungs hurt, and I get dizzy.”
Swiss officials say the building, which opened in December, is the first of its kind in Europe. They estimate that about 5,000 people suffer from MCS in Switzerland. Many become isolated and say they cannot function in the modern workplace.
Lydia Trueb, a Zurich housing office spokeswoman, said: “We wanted to help these people to have a calm home where they hopefully will be less sick.”
People entering the building are asked to switch off their mobile phones, although they do not work anyway, as the apartments have a built-in shield against electromagnetic radiation which blocks mobile reception. There is no wife, but there are landlines and Internet connections. The few cleaning and personal hygiene products allowed are on display in the lobby.
The block has odourless plaster on the walls, and construction workers were banned from smoking or using aftershave. Even so, Mr Schifferle spends only a few days a week in his flat, as he says he can still smell traces left by the builders.

Surprising Reasons You're Not Getting Pregnant Right Away

Surprising Reasons You're Not Getting Pregnant Right Away

"He has a very intimate relationship with his technology.

Among some researchers, there’s a concern that electromagnetic radiation (EMR) may scramble a man's sperm, with the cell phone being a primary offender. Several studies found a connection between sperm damage and the habit of carrying a cell phone in a pocket or hip belt, near the reproductive organs. Another study targeted that other indispensable EMR-emitting tool: the WiFi-enabled laptop computer. Compared to non-users, men who used laptops on their laps—for four hours with WiFi on -- had 25 percent immobile sperm (vs. 14 percent), and 9 percent of the survivors had DNA damage (vs. 3 percent). (In case you're wondering, the researchers controlled for laptop heat, which we all know kills sperm.)
The lesson: Research is ongoing, but to be safe, keep laptops and cell phones away from privates."

For about 20 percent of couples, there's no obvious reason why it's taking so long to conceive. We've looked beyond the usual suspects: stress, coffee, cigarettes, bad timing, blockages...and birthdays.

By Jena Pincott
Posted: Updated: 
You have the universal blood type.
First off: There's no big red flag here. Forty-four percent of us have type O blood, and most have no trouble conceiving. But a study at Yale University School of Medicine got our attention when it found that, among female fertility patients in their 30s, those with type O were twice as likely as other blood types to have a hormone profile that made their ovaries seem older than their age. As a group, their FSH (follicle-stimulating hormone) levels more often passed a threshold (>10 mIU/ml) that suggests a lower egg reserve.
The lesson: "Blood type serves only as an alert -- it's not a risk factor," stresses Lubna Pal, MD, the study's senior author and a researcher in reproductive endocrinology, who doesn't want healthy women to worry needlessly. For those with type O who have been struggling to conceive, she says, the best thing to do with this information is to weigh it with other factors known to reduce fertility. For instance, if you also smoke or your mother reached menopause at an early age, this finding might prompt you to adopt a healthier lifestyle and to talk to your doctor sooner than you might otherwise. Lastly, don't panic: Elevated FSH doesn't prevent you from getting pregnant. (Only levels higher than 20 mIU/ml are considered an indicator of infertility.)
It has been him all along (even if his initial tests came out okay).
couple in bed
For prospective dads, the usual fertility workup (sperm count, volume, concentration, motility and morphology) doesn't reveal the whole picture, says Sheena Lewis, a professor of reproductive medicine at Queen's University Belfast. Problem is, those tests don't detect sperm DNA damage, which Lewis and her colleagues pegged as the major culprit behind "idiopathic infertility" (when doctors have no clue why you're not pregnant yet). In their study, a striking 80 percent of cases with that diagnosis were resolved after testing for sperm DNA damage.
The lesson: Consult with your doctor about a test such as the comet assay, which, Lewis says, measures the amount of DNA damage in individual sperm. (Since this type of testing is still considered experimental, many insurance companies won't cover the cost.) When more than 25 percent of the DNA is abnormal, fertility specialists usually recommend intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), a procedure that involves selecting sperm and injecting it directly into the egg.
Your "sunshine hormone" levels are low.
In the winter, couples who live near the Arctic Circle don't conceive as often as usual -- and it's not because they don't have sex in the nearly-round-the-clock dark, report scientists at Austria's University of Graz. The slowdown may happen because they'redeficient in vitamin D, which the body synthesizes from sunlight. (At least 41 percent of Americans don't get enough, either, especially in the winter.) While scientists haven't determined exactly how (or how much) vitamin D figures into fertility, early research suggests that it plays several crucial supporting roles. A steroid hormone, itstimulates and balances sex hormones. Vitamin D-deficient rats have elevated FSH levels, take much longer to conceive, and more often miscarry. And in IVF studies, low vitamin D is a predictor of failure, while sufficient levels are associated with a four-times higher success rate.
The lesson: There's no official vitamin D guideline for fertility (not yet, anyway). But because it can be hard to get enough from the winter sun or from food, the Endocrine Practice Guidelines Committee recommends a moderate 1500–2000 IU daily supplement. (That said, avoid heavy-duty doses: One small study found that they may actually impair fertility.)
Your trusty water bottle is coded No. 3, No. 6 or No. 7….
black woman bottle
And you eat the wrong canned tomatoes. Or touch too many cash register receipts. And use the wrong sex toys. Or otherwise have contact with -- and absorb too much of—things that contain the estrogen-mimicking plastic-softening chemical BPA (Bisphenol A). In one investigation that took place at the Massachusetts General Hospital Fertility Center, patients with the highest BPA levels produced 24 percent fewer eggs than average; of those eggs, 27 percent fewer could be fertilized, and fewer embryos implanted. In another study, scientists exposed immature eggs to BPA; the higher the dose, the likelier those eggs were to degenerate or, oddly, act as if they were fertilized even though they weren't. The good news is that our bodies metabolize BPA rapidly, explains study author Russ Hauser, MD, MPH, ScD, a professor at Harvard School of Public Health. "Within 24 hours it can be excreted."
The lesson: We're exposed to many sources of BPA throughout the day -- and levels constantly rise and fall with exposure, Hauser says. Keep your daily load as low as possible and find BPA-free alternatives to those water bottles, cans…and, yes, that pocket rocket.
A common environmental chemical is the culprit.
Unfortunately, other hormone-altering chemicals -- PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and similar pollutants -- linger in the body, says Germaine Louis Buck, PhD, at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. She and her colleagues found that a couple's odds of getting pregnant in any given month decreased by about20 percent when either partner's blood tested for high levels of PCBs and/or their cousin chemicals, which persist in the environment (although PCBs have been banned for decades). Traces of PCBs are nearly everywhere, but a major source is animal fat, where toxins can accumulate. (Beef and fish both contain PCBs, but beef-heavy diets are associated with more abnormal sperm and a 35 percent lower count and concentration. The difference may be that the omega-3 fats in fish are sperm-boosters.)
The lesson: Louis Buck says the best thing to do is to limit exposure by cutting away the fat from meat or fish (how to prepare fish to reduce PCBs) and eat fewer animal products overall. Regardless of diet or exposure, a delay doesn't mean doom: About 80 percent of the couples conceived within a year of trying.
Your gums bleed when you brush.
woman brushing teeth
Do your gums bleed after you brush? Are they red and swollen? Periodontal (gum) disease delays a positive pregnancy test by two months or more, found an Australian study. While women with healthy mouths took an average of five months to conceive,those who had periodontal disease took a little over seven months. Non-Caucasian women who had it took over a year. Swollen gums and deep pockets around the teeth breed bacteria, which enter the bloodstream and trigger inflammation -- potentially reducing an embryo's chances of implantation. To make matters worse, gum disease in men is linked to poor sperm quality.
The lesson: Brush and floss regularly, and get dental check-ups. Keep up the regimen when you're pregnant; that same bacteria-triggered inflammation is associated with miscarriage, low birth rate and premature birth.
He has a very intimate relationship with his technology.

Among some researchers, there’s a concern that electromagnetic radiation (EMR) may scramble a man's sperm, with the cell phone being a primary offender. Several studies found a connection between sperm damage and the habit of carrying a cell phone in a pocket or hip belt, near the reproductive organs. Another study targeted that other indispensable EMR-emitting tool: the WiFi-enabled laptop computer. Compared to non-users, men who used laptops on their laps—for four hours with WiFi on -- had 25 percent immobile sperm (vs. 14 percent), and 9 percent of the survivors had DNA damage (vs. 3 percent). (In case you're wondering, the researchers controlled for laptop heat, which we all know kills sperm.)
The lesson: Research is ongoing, but to be safe, keep laptops and cell phones away from privates.
Keep in touch! Check out HuffPost OWN on Facebook and Twitter .



Maine lawmakers bow to industry on cellphone labeling bill

CONTRIBUTORS

Maine lawmakers bow to industry on cellphone labeling bill

Posted April 01, 2014, at 11:45 a.m.
George Danby | BDN
recent lecture in Portland about the corrupting influence of industry money on the political process came at a critical time for one small progressive advocacy group.
We are what the eminent Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig calls the 30 percent concerned about the dangers of cellphones, especially to infants and children through their teens. It was timely because LD 1013 — a bill that calls for a label directing cellphone users to precautionary language in the manual — had just passed the Maine House of Representatives and was on its way to the Senate.
As Lessig pointed out at the end of his talk, no one reads the fine print buried in the user’s manual: “Avoid direct contact with body; hold the cell phone 5/8 of an inch away from the head.” No one questions the damaging effects of radiofrequency radiation on human cells, despite many scientific studies supporting that position and despite a rising body count: increasing incidence of brain cancer on the side of the head where the cellphone is habitually held.
The text of LD 1013 is minimal by comparison with the label proposed by Rep. Andrea Boland four years ago, which read: “Warning: This device emits electromagnetic radiation [EMR], exposure to which may cause brain cancer. Users, especially children and pregnant women, should keep this device away from the head and body.” Included with the warning was a diagram showing the massive penetration of EMR from a cellphone held to the ear of a 5 year old.
Repeatedly we have seen how corporate bullying works in Augusta: hearing rooms packed with lobbyists (here, the telecom industry) and those who benefit from their largess. In 2010, speakers testifying against the precautionary label were not above impugning the integrity of world-renowned experts brought before the Health and Human Services committee to explain the DNA damage that results from cellphone use.
After the failure of that first labeling bill and of variants introduced subsequently, the 2014 version seemed — well, unassailable. The Wireless Information Act was stripped down to a package label simply telling users where to look for the manufacturer’s own warning, and mandating that it take effect only after four other states pass similar laws.
The bill had advanced through both the House and Senate by March 18, despite charges from a few legislators and the state’s attorney general that a warning label on cellphones would violate First Amendment and other legal provisions.
Lessig’s assurance that the advisory label is indeed warranted and would indeed survive constitutional challenge, along with his pledge to provide pro bono legal counsel in the event of any lawsuit, was very likely what secured some of the last-minute key votes in the Senate.
But LD 1013 ran into trouble back in the House two days later when some legislators changed their votes.
The House Democrats who would have made a difference are Speaker Mark Eves of North Berwick, Majority Leader Seth Berry of Bowdoinham, Assistant Majority Leader Jeff McCabe of Skowhegan, James Dill of Old Town, Margaret Rotundo of Lewiston, W. Bruce MacDonald of Boothbay, Barry Hobbins of Saco, Joan Welsh of Rockport, Richard Farnsworth of Portland, Charles Priest of Brunswick, Erin Herbig of Belfast, Anne Graham of North Yarmouth and Louis Luchini of Ellsworth.
With four exceptions, House committee chairs (listed above) lined up behind Hobbins, a former employee of the wireless industry and chair of Energy, Utilities and Technology, to which the bill had been assigned. (Two other House chairs, Adam Goode and Mark Dion, were absent.)
The four House committee chairs who voted in favor — Sharon Treat of Hallowell, Michael Shaw of Standish, Walter Kumiega of Deer Isle and Charles Theriault of Madawaska — deserve our thanks for their principled action. The others should be held to account for derailing the final enactment process, usually pro forma, resulting in the bill’s failure.
It is unfortunate that Lessig’s compelling counter-argument did not persuade our lawmakers. Had he prevailed over Attorney General Janet Mills and the lobbyists, it might have signaled a knock-on effect as well: less telecom-industry payola flowing to Maine officials and candidates — the wrong kind of green for the green economy we want and need.
Notwithstanding this aborted effort, I thank Lessig for speaking out. He is welcome back here at any time to disparage the pernicious effect of corporate funding on Maine lawmakers and agency heads.
Jody Spear is an editor and writer who lives in Harborside.

Feds to Look Harder at Cell Carriers When Tower Climbers Die

Feds to Look Harder at Cell Carriers When Tower Climbers Die

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration will systematically track who subcontractors were working for when accidents occur on cell tower sites.
by Liz Day
 ProPublica, April 1, 2014, 8 a.m.


This story was co-published with Frontline
In a two-week span last August, four workers died from falls on cell towers scattered across the country. Before the year ended, another worker had plummeted to his death, this time in Kansas.
Then, in early February, two workers were killed and two more were hospitalized when two cell towers collapsed in West Virginia.
Spurred by a drumbeat of deadly accidents, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is changing how it investigates and assigns responsibility for injuries to tower climbers, the workers who build and maintain America’s cell phone networks.
Tower climbing, a small field of roughly 10,000 workers, has been called the most dangerous job in America. And asProPublica and Frontline reported in 2012, cell phone carriers and tower owners have insulated themselves from legal and regulatory liability for on-the-job injuries by delegating this work to layers of subcontractors.
Now, for the first time, OSHA is systematically tracking which companies subcontractors were working for when accidents occurred, collecting paperwork that spells out such relationships. In a letter sent in February to industry employers and state wireless associations, the agency criticized “check the box” language written into contracts that doesn’t set out clear standards for safety.
OSHA’s chief administrator has insisted that carriers and tower owners must take more responsibility for safety.
“It’s really incumbent on them that safety provisions are absolutely implemented,” OSHA director David Michaels said in an interview. “Safety can’t just be pawned off on the final contractor.”
There have been 19 climber deaths in communications tower accidents since the start of 2013, a fatality rate Michaels called “clearly unacceptable” in a videotaped address to a tower industry conference in February.
The latest came just last week, when two workers died while dismantling a Union Pacific telecommunications tower, according to a company spokesman. The week before, Chad Weller, 21, died after falling 180 feet from a Sprint cell site atop a water tower in Pasadena, Md., according to a local fire official.
OSHA’s recent moves supplement those made last November, when the agency instructed employees to inspect any active tower worksites they see. This was meant to address another chronic hurdle to safety enforcement: Tower sites are harder for OSHA to check randomly than factories or other construction sites because work often occurs in short bursts, rather than over weeks or months.
The rise in fatalities that began in 2013 reflected, in part, the breakneck pace of work to upgrade and expand cell networks.
“I can’t tell you a year I remember that was as busy as 2013,” said Victor Guerrero, a telecom consultant who has been in the industry since 1998.
In particular, Sprint was in the midst of Network Vision, a multibillion-dollar project to unify its network architecture and expand its 4G LTE footprint that Chief Executive Dan Hesse characterized as a “complete rip and replace of the entire network.”
Four workers suffered fatal accidents on Sprint’s cell sites in 2013. One, Michael Frontiero Cortes, 41, fell nearly 200 feet to his death while performing maintenance on a satellite dish on a Maryland cell tower in July, according to OSHA. He’d started climbing earlier that year to support his four children, his mother said.
Veteran climber John Dailey loved the expansive views offered by tall towers and that his work helped people keep in touch with one another. The 49 year old slipped and fell during an August installation on a Sprint cell site beside a North Carolina highway.
Dailey’s sister, Tabetha DuPriest, has started a letter-writing campaign with the nonprofit Hubble Foundation to get the attention of cell carriers.
In a statement, Sprint said that the safety of everyone who works on its network is a top priority and that the cell carrier requires contractors to have one person at every job site who is responsible for making sure safety programs are being followed.
Overall, 13 climbers died working on communication towers in 2013, more than had died in the previous two years combined, OSHA data shows. All but two of the accidents were on cell or cell-related sites.
Workers have also suffered serious, but not fatal, harm in additional accidents.
A 50-foot fall from an AT&T cell site last June left novice climber Thomas Jeglum, 24, in a coma for months, according to his wife, Gina. In a statement, an AT&T spokesperson said the cell carrier requires tower contractors to comply with all safety laws and to fully train anyone working on AT&T projects.
So far, little is officially known about what caused many of the recent accidents because OSHA’s investigations are ongoing.
When ProPublica and Frontline examined 50 deaths on cell sites between 2003 and 2011, we found that workers were often poorly trained, improperly equipped or working under intense deadlines. To save time, they sometimes work without attaching their safety gear to the tower, leading to falls.
OSHA sometimes sanctioned subcontractors for safety violations connected to these cases, but never penalized cell carriers. The agency had not known that more climbers died on AT&T projects during this nine-year period than had died on projects for Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile combined.
Under Michaels’ leadership, the agency is taking steps to eliminate this gap in oversight.
“I think it’s profound that he wants to look at all entities from subcontractors to carriers and tower owners,”said Rob Medlock, who had specialized in tower safety during his 33 years at OSHA before retiring in 2010. “That’s been difficult for OSHA in the past.”
The recent uptick in accidents also has prompted some in the industry to rethink their approach to safety.
Sprint has announced it will work with PICS Auditing to check prospective contractors’ safety manuals, accident rates and training programs before hiring them to work on its next large-scale cell network project. PICS Auditing has done similar work for clients in the oil and gas, mining and construction industries.
PICS Auditing Chief Marketing Officer Jeffrey Muto said the company has also spoken with other carriers and tower management companies about reducing the risks of accidents on their cell sites.
Sprint said in a statement that it views the partnership as a proactive effort that the wireless industry should take.
OSHA’s David Michaels believes if the public knew about the dangers workers face making our cell phones work, it could spur change.
“If they were aware,” he said, “they may insist companies that provide them with that service make sure workers are safe.”
Kara Brandeisky contributed to this report.